Future Bachelor Matt James may seem like the all-around perfect guy, but his roommate and best friend Tyler Cameron says he could use a little help in one area: interior design.
While chatting about their shared New York City apartment, Cameron, 27, who was the runner-up on season 15 of The Bachelorette, joked to PEOPLE, “I have no idea what the hell is going on in Matt's room, to be honest.”
Earlier this year, furniture company Raymour & Flanigan helped the pair furnish the apartment they moved into last October, located on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Cameron handled his room and the shared public spaces, while James, 28, focused on his own bedroom. And while the large furniture pieces James picked out were totally normal, Cameron says it’s the way he decided to decorate the rest of his room that made it, well, a little unique.
“I think it's like a jungle theme that just never pans out,” the Florida-native says with a laugh of his friend’s aesthetic. “It's really one that we've still got to work on.”
“He wanted lions and hyenas, but then he also wanted pancakes,” Cameron says of the wall decor James put up. “So he has photos of animals on the wall, he has photos of breakfast food going … then randomly, he has a jersey from middle school hanging up. I'm like, ‘Dude, what is going on in here.’”
“I was like, ‘Matt, when did this come together? It doesn't make sense,’" Cameron continues, claiming James told him, “You’ve just got to see it."
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No matter his eye for design, Cameron says living with James is a blast. Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the roommates temporarily relocated to Cameron’s family home in Jupiter earlier this year.
“The last time we were both there together was probably in March or February,” Cameron says of their apartment, admitting that he misses living in the big city “so much it hurts.”
“But we have so much fun there together,” Cameron says. “Our building has such great amenities, so we're always either playing basketball or swimming or working out together, or we're cooking up some great food.”
James and Cameron became close while playing football together at Wake Forest University, and the pair now work together at the charity ABC Food Tours, which James founded.
The non-profit is designed to teach underprivileged New York City youth about how to lead healthy, active lifestyles while giving them a chance to try new restaurants in their communities. Cameron and James even invited students from one of the schools they visited over for a Thanksgiving dinner last November.
ABC announced James as The Bachelor's next leading man on June 12, making him the franchise's first-ever Black male lead. Rachel Lindsay made history as the first Black Bachelorette on season 13 in 2017.
James was previously cast as one of Clare Crawley's Bachelorette contestants.
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